Tuesday 18 March 2014

Elspeth Owen

 
 

Elspeth Owen at the Oxford Ceramics Gallery, Walton Street.
 
Even though ceramics is a passion and I always delight in ceramics exhibitions, it's been a while since the pleasure was so intense. Elsbeth Owen's work is stunning and leaving the gallery was very difficult. Having seen Owen's work I was very sorry to have missed Clay Live where she staged a demonstration of how she works. I spoke to the person in the gallery who told me that this particular Clay Live event was the most interesting and stimulating one so far not just because of the quality of the work but also because Owen took on the persona of Material Woman while demonstrating - her alter ego, as the assistant in the gallery put it. She is certainly an interesting person and here's a link to her website which is fascinating.
 
 
 
 
 


'As a young woman I studied history at Oxford University and worked as an academic, a social worker and a teacher before I started going to pottery evening classes in the mid seventies. In place of an art school training I taught on the legendary Open University course Art and Environment. I have been a feminist since the time when it was called being a member of the Women's Liberation Movement and a peace protester since the Aldermarston Marches and Greenham Common.
 
Inspired in part by the Women's Peace Camp at Greenham, I have increasingly moved aside from making finished objects and into work where the passage of time, the live process, is a key element.
 
Tender, direct, resilient, with a thin skin: that is how I think my work may touch you. To sustain working in this way means my remaining open to the emotions and sensations of an ordinary life. I keep slipping between categories - life, art, therapy, play, ritual - and find that I'm usually in more than one at a time, and with something up my sleeve!
 
My work, whether it be fine hand-built ceramics, installations or adventures on foot, is always preoccupied with the sense of touch. Material Woman, my persona when performing, is particularly drawn to teasing the virtual world and trying to give it a tactile content.
 
The pots, I think, emerge more from my memories of holding and of being held than from any study of art of nature.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking closer
 
 
 
 
 
 looking closer
 
 
 
 
 
 looking closer
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside
 
 
 
 
 
 Calendar
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Calendar
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside
 
 
 
 
 
 Pregnancy Calendar
 
 
 
 
 
 
looking inside - 40 balls inside the bowl in the middle, to represent the 40 weeks of pregnancy - at the end of each week one ball is placed inside one of the smaller bowls: 4 balls in each bowl
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside
 
 
 
 
 
 Blue Closing Bowl
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Triptych, White
 
 
 
 
 
 Triptych, Black
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside another bowl
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside yet another
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside
 

 
 
 
 looking inside another bowl
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking inside
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Book
 
 
 
 
 
 as with all books, you have to turn the pages
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and again
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and again
 
 
 
 
 
 
 looking out.
 
 
 
 

2 comments:

  1. Wow! This is a ceramicist whose work I do not know, but your photos make me want to handle so many pieces. I love the look of the texture and the colours, and how she uses the latter. I like so many pieces, but I think my absolute favourite two are the beaker shapes after your words 'looking inside' : the first in blue-ish tones with green splodges, and the second white-ish with earth coloured marks.
    I will now take time to examine her website. Thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Olga - Ken had to drag me out , I just could not leave the gallery. And I cursed my lack of money as I would have loved to own one of her pieces - any. They were very expensive, but worth every penny. And I can't bear the thought that I missed the demonstration.

      Delete